


Persistent Arthropod

by Soap_Lady



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Police State France, dystopian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24718012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soap_Lady/pseuds/Soap_Lady
Summary: In an alternate history France the Reign of Terror never really ended and the elite rule a police state. However there is an underground resistance movement that is allied with Ladybug herself.  The official story is that Ladybug is just a legend but two deadly agents of the regime are about to find out otherwise.TW: For blood and gun related violence.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This was originally posted on Tumblr but I thought it might be easier for people to find my stories here.

_ Imagine a world where the Reign of Terror evolved into a police state. It became isolationist, avoiding both world wars and becoming as self-sufficient as possible. The elite live in luxury while many starve. There is an underground resistance movement, inspired by the stories of a heroine clad in red and black… _

Her eyes opened and tried to focus on the person standing in front of her. Her mind was fuzzy and the back of her head throbbed. Had she been drugged? No. She’d been knocked unconscious with a blunt object.

The figure looked vaguely familiar and she tried to place them. Her eyes blinked several times and finally she could see clearly.

The woman tried to stand and found herself pulled back into a kneeling position by clanking chains. She looked and saw her wrists were manacled with old fashioned restraints. No magnetic locks here.

She forced herself to look up, angry to find herself in a submissive position with anyone. She hated feeling helpless and swore to herself she’d never let that happen again, especially after last time…

The person was someone she recognized. He’d replaced his ragged street clothes with a gray dress shirt and black pants with a well tailored vest and tie. His messy blond hair was neatly trimmed and combed behind his ears and his smile was warm. Only his calculating green eyes gave him away.

“Elly!” he spread his arms in greeting and approached her. He seemed genuinely glad to see her. “I’m glad you’re finally awake. Sorry about your rough treatment. The guards can get a bit...protective of me.”

The last was said with a hint of a sheepish grin and she saw the person he once claimed to be.

“Hello, Felix.”

She had been stripped while she slept, her clothes replaced with a beige prison uniform. All of her equipment had been removed. The only thing she still wore that was uniquely hers were the hair decorations that kept her long tresses out of her face.

There were no guards in here and wherever they were it wasn’t a cold concrete interrogation room. She knelt on plush carpet and the room was tastefully furnished and decorated in warm earth tones. It looked like a luxury living room she’d seen once in a rare magazine smuggled from London.

The man noticed her gaze and seemed annoyed she was looking at everything but him. “This is my living quarters. I thought you’d be more comfortable here. Well, as comfortable as anyone could be while still being a prisoner.” His expression was smug, the way it always was when he won the chess games they’d played with rocks and stones. She had to control herself from rolling her eyes. 

Felix came closer to her and reached out as if to touch but withdrew his hand. “I really  _ am _ sorry, Elly. I became rather fond of you during our time together.” He sighed and looked as if he regretted what he was about to say. “I’m afraid I’ll have to give you a shot of truth serum. After we find out everything you know we’ll have to execute you. I promise, Elly, I’ll make it as painless as possible.”

The woman ruined his compassionate speech by throwing back her head and laughing.

His eyes went wide as he stared in confusion. “That’s...an unusual reaction to one’s impending end.”

She finally caught her breath. “Sorry, sorry. I’m sure you’ve given this speech so many times you don’t realize how insincere and rote you sound.” The woman grinned up at him. “Oh, wait. Let me guess.” She pointed at herself. “This is where I was supposed to cry and curse at you and say something like, ‘You mean everything you said, the time we spent together, it was all a lie?’ Sorry for ruining your speech. Did your superiors at the Department of Intelligence come up with it for you or did you come up with it yourself?”

His professional mask slipped and he found himself gawking open mouthed at his prisoner. Elly was so sweet and kind to him during his time infiltrating that resistance cell. He thought her a sentimental pushover. Yet, he was never able to seduce her into giving him more information about the leadership structure, long-term plans or anything beyond day to day operations. That should have been his first clue.

Felix recovered and smiled, colder this time but with more respect. “You’re more perceptive than the average rabble. I’m sorry I have to have you killed.”

“Of course you are,” she simpered at him, “next thing you’ll be telling me is you hate to see me chained and on my knees. Not that I’m kink-shaming you.”

He shrugged off her insults because after all, she’d be dead in a day or two. He’d heard worse from the condemned. “Just because you’re about to die is no reason to be childish, Elly.”

“Says the man lording over me, about to brag about how easy I was to capture and how The Republic will soon destroy all those like me and blah blah blah.”

He chuckled. He’d always liked her spirit and regretted the necessity of her death. “I’m going to miss you.”

Elly smiled at him and his breath caught in his throat despite himself. He’d always thought her pretty but there was something very enticing about the way she was looking at him and he found himself reaching for her cheek, needing to touch her, kiss her, just this once.

The power went out.

Felix backed away instinctively and waited for the backup generators to kick in. He heard the rattling of chains and was surprised to hear a heavy clunk as they fell away from his prisoner.

“Lock pick in your barrette?” he asked.

“Yes indeedy.”

“I’ll have to remember to remove them from now on when interrogating prisoners. Clever of you, Elly, but-”

He was cut off when she rammed her fist into his sternum.

Her hands always looked so small and delicate but there was a surprising amount of strength behind her punch. The dim emergency lights flickered on and he was able to avoid a kick to the head.

The woman’s attacks were quick and relentless and he was able to block them but with difficulty. Clearly he’d let his physical training slide while he became too comfortable with Elly’s rebel cell. That was a costly mistake.

He lept into the center of the room to give himself space to fight and was surprised when she followed him. Her face was impassive as she attacked and he marveled to himself. If only she’d been born among the elite; what an agent she would have made!

“You know,” he panted, “I believe I’ve changed my mind about having you executed. I think you’d be much more useful to me as a sparring partner. I see now that I’ve grown complacent and could use someone like you to keep me on my toes.”

“What, like your pet?” she huffed, “I think not. I have plans this evening.”

She was smiling and he couldn’t figure out why. What did she see? Had she spotted an opening in his defenses? What was she up to?

Her answer was a stunning strike to the base of his skull.

“Turnabout is fair play, Felix. Or is that foreplay?” she dragged him over and bound him with his own manacles before forcing him into a kneeling position.

“I’m sure to some it’s both, dear,” he muttered.

This was not how his interrogations were supposed to go! He would parade his intelligence and superiority in their face, they would weep and beg for mercy, he would pretend to relent and have them injected with quick acting poisons.

He had underestimated Elly.

He had compromised himself and his mission.

Felix heard her searching around the room until she found the small rucksack with her meager belongings. Why had he brought those up here?

Oh. To taunt her with them, that was it.

She stood in front of him and he saw she’d raided his closet for something to wear. She looked rather good in her usual dark attire…

He shook his head to clear it. Now was not the time to get distracted.

He tensed, shoulders bunching as she circled around him and began to loosen his tie.

“You know,” she whispered in his ear, “you really need to work on your endurance and stamina. I could have worked you over until you dropped from exhaustion but like I said, I have plans this evening.”

“I’ll work on that,” he replied through clenched teeth.

She laughed and he shivered as it danced along his skin. “I like you on your knees, you know. You must be wondering, Felix my dear, what gave you away?”

He froze and Elly began to unbutton his shirt. “Was it something you said? Body language, the way you held yourself? Did you slip and let me see how you look down on us? Was anything you learned from us real?” She nuzzled her cheek against the side of his neck. “And what, if anything, did I learn from you? Let that little mystery keep you awake at night. Oh. And this.”

The woman kissed his neck and began to suck gently at his very sensitive flesh. He could feel his eyes begin to close and he leaned into the sensation. Either she figured out where his hotspots were, or it had been too long since his last visit to the Consort District.

She interrupted his thoughts by biting him. Hard.

The nip wasn’t quite hard enough to draw blood but he gasped out loud and she drew back, chuckling.

Her voice was full of glee as she told him, “I’ll be sure to tell Ladybug how oh-so helpful you were to our cause. Good-bye, darling.”

Felix heard the door click shut behind him and as he knelt in the still mostly dark room he thought to himself:

_ This will be difficult to explain to Director D’Argencourt. _

  
  
  



	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elly escapes and encounters a deadly predator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part 2! 
> 
> TW for blood and gun related violence

Elly was fortunate anyone who would have spotted her was occupied with the power outage as she made her way into the air ducts.

A cache was waiting for her, placed by their mole. She changed into her therm-ops and neatly folded the stolen clothing in case the next operative needed it. She grinned at the bunny icon scratched into the wall and made her way underground.

Max was no doubt working overtime keeping the power off so she would have to be fast. This operation was to be swift and surgically precise. 

She carefully picked her way through unconscious guards and made her way to the cell blocks. She smiled as she looked at very familiar people.

Alya was the first on her feet, followed closely by Nino and Kim. Elly motioned for them to be silent as she opened all the cell doors.

She did a quick head count: Alya, Kim, Nathaniel, Nino, Mylene, Rose and Juleka. All accounted for and alive. Their resistance cell was kept small on purpose; it kept them mobile and low-risk.

“Follow me.”

“What about-?”

“It’s being taken care of. Ladybug is seeing to it. Follow me.”

Mentioning the hero worked like a magic charm. Her fellow cell members nodded as one and followed her as stealthily as they could.

“Have you found him?” Alya thought to ask as they reached an annex exit.

“Lucky’s been neutralized for now. All we have to worry about is Longshot. He’s just as dangerous,” Elly told her.

Alya was tired but still curious. “How so?”

“He’s a sniper.”

******

Elly freed as many people as she could on her way out. It would make spotting her resistance cell harder to recapture and there was always strength in numbers. Most looked to be ordinary workers, probably jailed for asking about the week’s rations or some other such benign thing.

She shook her head to clear it and turned to her group. “Lead everyone you can away from here without risking your own lives. Rendez-vous point alpha charlie but each of you take a different route. Good luck.”

The young woman tried to turn away but was grabbed by Alya. “What about you?”

“I’m the diversion. I’ll drop some sleepy beads on the guards in the courtyard. One it clears, everyone run like Hell.”

The young woman in glasses looked like she wanted to argue then nodded and asked. “You think they got out too?”

“Ladybug is with them. Ladybug always finds a solution.”

The two hugged and Elly pushed her friend gently towards Nino. “Bug out.”

*****

The guards easily went down thanks to the sleepy beads. Rumor had it they were invented by a chemistry teacher to cure insomnia. The Resistance made much better use of them.

Once the cloud had dispersed the former streamed into the courtyard and ran for the walls. Elly smiled to herself and changed the color of her therm-op suit from midnight blue to bright red and black.

A young man sat alone in guard tower. His navy uniform was so dark it was nearly black and he wore a hooded coat to keep the chill away. He donned his night vision goggles and gazed through the scope of his rifle and spotted his prey. 

Most of the escaping prisoners were none of his concern. They were just ordinary people; mostly harmless. They milled about like sheep. His targets were the seven or so people expertly herding the other prisoners like livestock. Lucky must be losing his touch if so many of the convicted had escaped at once.

There was one amongst them that drew special attention. Young woman, approximately eighteen to twenty-one. Dark hair, blue eyes, fair skinned. Rather attractive, usually his type.

Except she was clad in red and black.

His green eyes took on a predatory shine and his lips curled up involuntarily into a smile.

“Ladybug. There you are at last.”

He’d heard of her, of course. Who hadn’t? The red and black hero, supposedly the ghost of Jeanne D’Arc herself. She arose in times of France’s greatest need to aid Her people. A good legend exploited by rabble.

A shot rang out and a tall girl with long black hair went down as her head exploded. A tiny blonde screamed and knelt beside her before losing her own life. The assembled detainees panicked and ran in all directions but he had eyes only for the five remaining ringleaders. He’d save their lovely little heroine for last.

One by one the others went down but the pretty raven haired woman eluded him. She was fast and clever; running in a zig-zag pattern to make herself harder to hit. It was as intriguing as it was frustrating.

He hated wasting bullets so he watched her for a bit to see if he could find a pattern and exploit it.

“Come on,” he muttered aloud. “Make a mistake. Show me your pretty little face, Red.”

Suddenly, she stopped.

The woman stood still in the middle of the courtyard and looked up at his nest as if she could see him at this distance.

Longshot couldn’t help but stare. She really was a confident little thing, looking up at a cold sniper like him without a care in the world. He felt as if she was challenging him, daring him to shoot her. He’d try to accommodate her.

Before he could do so she smiled at him. It had been longer than he cared to admit that any woman, especially a female so young and attractive had looked at him with anything but fear or distaste.

Imagine his surprise when she winked at him and then blew him a kiss.

He fired but his bullet found no target. The woman had disappeared and with her all the prisoners, even the dead.

The blonde pulled his eyes away from the scope and blinked to clear them. Then he looked again.

The courtyard was empty save for a rapidly dissipating orange smoke. There were footsteps but no bloodshed, no carnage.

Longshot frowned. He was not delusional, nor was his eyesight impaired. He thought calmly and rationally about what he’d just seen. 

Colored smoke, a cheap theatrical trick. Recorded screams. The disappearing prisoners?

Holograms, it had to be.

The sniper hadn’t heard any reports of rebels gaining that sort of advanced technology but he never paid attention to Felix’s field reports. They were dry, boring, and entirely too self-congratulatory, rather like his cousin.

He continued to check his scope, listening for the crunch of footsteps on snow, for strange smells, anything that would clue him in to where his elusive prey had gone. This wasn’t over, it couldn’t be.

Distracted by a pretty face and clever prey. He hoped he wasn’t turning into a smug git like his cousin.

The blond looked around for his communication device. He dreaded reporting his failure to anyone but he knew his duty.

“Looking for something, Sunshine?”

His sniper rifle was knocked out of his hand and out of the guard tower. He moved into a crouch and prepared to fight his opponent. The close quarters put him at a disadvantage in hand to hand combat, but they didn’t have to know that.

He looked and saw the attractive woman in red and black. She was smiling at him again and his mouth went dry as he saw something almost carnal in her gaze. He wondered if he were looking at her the same way.

Longshot blinked but she was still there. She smelled incredible, like vanilla and cardamom. It was...affecting his senses. Yes, that was it. Her scent was putting him off-balance.

The woman licked her lips and suddenly he found himself grabbed and forced to meet her warm mouth.

Her lips were incredibly soft and she tasted like honey breakfast biscuits.

He did _not_ kiss her back and none were around to contradict him. He told himself he only gripped her waist to make her easier to capture. He made a mental note to make an appointment to visit the Consort District soon.

Two small, soft hands made their way under his coat to tug at his uniform shirt. Once his shirttail was freed, they slid beneath his shirt onto his bare skin.

He suppressed a shiver as he felt the skin to skin contact. Something was wrong with him; he shouldn’t be enjoying this. He had a duty to his country and family honor to protect them. Not to lock himself in a passionate embrace with an enemy, attractiveness be damned.

Longshot heard something break and suddenly his limbs felt heavy and weak. Liquid spread over his stomach and he knew he’d been had.

“Sleepy...bead,” he whispered as she lowered him gently to the ground.

“You’re a clever one,” she told him, “nighty-night, Sunshine.”

Adrien’s last coherent thought was, _Felix will never let me hear the end of this._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cousins debrief each other and our heroes are safe. For now.
> 
> Will the real Ladybug make an appearance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Safe at last! Doo doo doo doo doo doo!

“This was an unmitigated disaster!”

Longshot had been found unconscious and shivering after two hours in the snow. He had been revived and went to the Chief of Field Intelligence Operations’ office. He still didn’t feel quite warm.

His cousin was pacing the tile floor, agitated and nearly red with frustration. It was an emotion both men could relate to.

“How could you let her escape, Adrien? The others don’t matter but a counterintelligence agent  _ that _ skilled getting past  _ both _ of us? Unacceptable! We’ll be lucky if we’re not shipped to Mont St. Michel for this.” Felix glared at his cousin. “I’m disappointed in your incompetence. I thought you were the best sniper in France.”

“You’re one to talk,” Adrien growled. His voice was raspy with disuse. Not many bothered to speak to him and he preferred the solitude of his sniper tower anyway. “That woman should have been under heavy guard in a prison cell, not in your quarters so you could impress her with how clever you are.”

“We have to recapture her. Alive and relatively uninjured,” Felix continued as if he hadn’t heard. “She’s very clever, very resourceful. There’s no telling what she knows and who she’s told. My work as an undercover operative may be compromised. Still, the woman could be useful,” he mused. “Once properly broken she could teach us her techniques. She’d be a fun little sparring partner too.”  _ As long as I keep her chained up afterwards. _

Adrien rolled his eyes in disgust. “I hope you’re not planning to keep a dangerous criminal alive because you want a new pet.”  _ Tolerable kisser though. _

“Your first response to any problem is a bullet, dear cousin,” Felix sighed. “Besides, I thought you’d like her. Dark hair, blue eyes...that’s still your type, right?” He laughed at the look on his near-twin’s face. “Well, once we recapture her, I wouldn’t mind loaning her to you every now and then. Just...be gentle with her, all right? “

The sniper just scratched his cheek, feeling the stubble and wondering if it were time for a shave. He waited for the usual smug superiority to return to his cousin’s face before dropping a bombshell. “Elly is Ladybug.”

Felix stumbled. “Wait, what?!”

Adrien nodded. “She was wearing red and black and used colored smoke and holograms to fool me into thinking I’d killed her compatriots when in reality they’d escaped. She used the confusion to sneak up behind me and knock me out.” There was no way he’d tell anyone what really happened.

Felix stared, open mouthed. “That can’t be. Ladybug is a legend rebels like her tell themselves to feel better. She’s a symbol to rally around, not a real person.”

The sniper shrugged. “I can only tell you what I saw. If she’s not Ladybug, she’s using her symbolism to great advantage.”

Felix thought about this new information, his plans rearranging themselves to make room for this new information. “If that’s true and we let her escape, we’re screwed.”

Adrien smirked and crossed his arms. “You don’t say.”

“No one but us must know,” Felix told him. 

“Obviously.”

The two were silent and Adrien said, “something about this little breakout annoys me.”

“Besides the obvious? Our sheer incompetence?” The spymaster laughed. “Oh, do tell. I look forward to hearing your insightful analysis. I’m sure a marksman like yourself has a unique perspective.”

The sniper sighed as his cousin poured himself a glass of water. “In case you’ve forgotten, dear cousin, I’m just as intelligent as yourself. Just because I chose not to join your little spy club doesn’t mean I’m not capable.”

Felix nodded. “True.”

Adrien waited until his cousin sat down then sat across from him. “It’s too easy.”

The spymaster raised an eyebrow. “For them? Yes I should say so.”

The sniper shook his head. “No. Why send Ladybug for a simple extraction? It seems like overkill. Unless…”

His cousin frowned. “Unless…?”

Adrien stopped and thought for a moment. “I’m having the prisoner manifest checked. I doubt the resistance cell and those workers were enough to bring out the Spotted Lady herself. So I’m just waiting to hear back from the warden.”

“Captain Agreste?” 

The intercom squawked as if on cue. The sniper raised his voice. “Yes?”

Warden Raincomprix here, sir. You were right. Several of the prisoners from Z block are missing.”

“The scientific experiment block?” Felix questioned.

“Yes.” Adrien addressed the intercom again. “Thank you, Warden. Transfer some prisoners from D block to compensate.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The intercom squawked off and the two cousins were left staring at each other.

Felix’s eyes widened in awe. “So the resistance cell rescue was just a feint operation. An attack within an attack. She freed the prisoners so we wouldn’t notice the missing Z block prisoners right away. Clever.”

Adrien glowered at him. “Now is not the time to be impressed by the enemy. Now is the time to track her down and kill her. I don’t care what she knows, she’s too dangerous to be allowed to live.”

The spymaster was disappointed but agreed. “Right. I can’t let myself get distracted,” he sighed, “else I repeat our mothers’ mistakes.”

The two men fell silent, lost to memories and perhaps a pair of bluebell eyes.

*****

After a harrowing nine hours of travelling, doubling back to make false trails and travelling farther, Elly and her resistance cell were finally reunited. 

It had been a year since she’d been at the main base under Versailles Palace and she looked forward to seeing Master Fu and the others again.

The others straggled in past her, looking exhausted. They stopped and gaped at the sight around them.

“When you said where the rendezvous point was, I thought you were joking, girl,” Alya breathed as she took in the sight.

HQ was enormous; an underground city carved into the rock while the former palace of Versailles guarded it above. Vast tunnels wound through the earth like a warren, full of residences, storage units, even small shops.

Nino’s eyes were huge and round. “Did...did you grow up here, Elly?”

“Elytron,” she corrected with a smile. “My codename is Elytron. Me, I joined later. Rose, Mylene, and Juleka grew up here. They could show you the grand tour when we have time. I’m sure Master Fu will want to debrief us first.”

Kim looked almost betrayed. “If there’s this big headquarters here then why were we hold up in an old warehouse? Is Master Fu our leader? Why didn’t you tell us all this a long time ago?”

Elly, now Elytron smiled. “It’s a long story and it’s not all my secret to tell. We have to be careful with how much information gets out because of situations like Lucky.” She laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. “We’d heard stories of a spy infiltrating and then betraying resistance cells like ours. He was using his real name too, Felix. I guess he thought rebels like us were too stupid to compare notes.”

Alya blinked. “So, you were onto him the whole time?”

“Pretty much. I fed him some false information but I’m sorry I didn’t warn you before they found us.”

Nino looked sad. “So...what about what you told us? Are you really our friend? If Elly isn’t your real name, what is?”

“Marinette?”

A tall blue-haired man approached them. He smiled at Rose and Juleka but had eyes only for the raven haired woman in red and black. She ran towards him and they hugged. The embrace wasn’t one of friends or even lovers but two people who would live or die for each other, no questions asked.

Marinette introduced them to the group. “Guys, this is Luka Couffaine, Juleka’s older brother and one of Master Fu’s assistants. He’s one of the people in charge around here.”

“Says one of the other people in charge around here,” he motioned his sister and her girlfriend forward. “Glad to see you’re safe, Jules.”

The two women hugged Luka and he called out. “We’ll make time to chat later, I promise, but for now I need you all to step back. Ladybug should be here any minute. He’s bringing the second group with Pegasus.”

Alya looked at Marinette. “Wait...I thought you were Ladybug!”

The raven haired woman patted the fox necklace hidden beneath her clothing. “Not today.”

A portal opened and the newcomers gasped in surprise as a large man in black and red spotted armor emerged with a woman with a red braided fauxhawk and brown armor. They were smiling as they were joined by a small crowd. One of them looked over and smiled in surprise as he spotted, “Mylene?”

“Papa!” the petite woman raced over to hug her father. A dark haired man gave Nathaniel a warm kiss. Nino ran over to hug a boy who looked like him. The boy muttered something about “for babies” before crying and hugging him back.

A gray haired woman picked up Luka and Juleka, laughing and crying all the while. The biggest surprise was Alya’s.

The red haired woman’s eyes spilled with tears as she saw people she never thought she’d see again. They were thin and ragged but smiling even as they cried.

Suddenly Alya was surrounded by her entire family, each trying to talk over each other, demanding answers, declaring their love, asking about their rescuers.

The last two rescuees were a Japanese woman and a weary blonde. They swept past the tearful family reunions and approached Marinette. “I hope you’ll forgive us if we just shake your hand?” asked Kagami.

“Of course,” she smiled at her old childhood friends. “I have to tell Dr. Mendeliev how well her pheromone compound worked. Those boys never knew what hit them. Longg and Pollen have missed you. Let’s go.”

“Let’s get something to eat afterwards,” Chloe suggested. “Prison food is utterly ridiculous.”

The three laughed and continued deeper into the tunnels. Marinette knew there would be hunting parties searching for her and if they found her a public execution would await her. The Republic did not to be humiliated.

But for now, her friends were back and everything was perfect. 


End file.
